A New Beginning
by Awakened-Soul-16
Summary: They were coming, fast. Her vision was blurry, but she knew it was them. They were screaming things she couldn't comprehend at the moment; the dogs were going crazy, there were lights everywhere, footsteps surrounding her … They had found her. (Rated M just in case)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello! I won't make this long, just letting you guys know this is pretty much my first story. Iwant you guys' opinion if it's worth continuing or if it just ... sucks. Anyways, leave your thoughts :)**

**I do not own anything besides the O.C ;)**

The cold, wild wind was loudly whispering past in her ears, pushing against her body making it even harder to move. She was breathing, loud. She could hear the crunching of the leaves under the pressure of every step she took, betraying her. She was running as fast as she possibly could while trying to avoid the trees, branches and roots in her way, but she could still hear them. Despite her efforts, it seemed they kept getting closer and closer. Maybe she was slowing down. She heard the dogs barking, guiding these men towards her and once in a while, she noticed a flash of light coming from behind her, someone screaming, more footsteps following… They were getting closer, she was getting tired.

And there it was again, that odd, yet great feeling overwhelming all her senses. A shiver traveled every inch of her skin, from her head to her toes, followed by a pleasant wave of heat. A tingle started in her fingers, threatening to evolve into something… more. She knew it couldn't be bad; it was something that felt necessary, like a natural instinct. She knew it would probably save her – but it might also betray her.

She was aware that her mutation was beastly, feral. What she did not know was how her body would react to a first change of form. Or whatever it was supposed to be. She didn't even know herself what she would look like and how it would help her getting away. Wouldn't it attract the dogs even more? Smelling another animal would definitely trace their way to her. What was right?

Lost in her mind, she failed to notice an enormous root coming out of the ground. She yelped in surprise as she felt herself fall down. To make matters worse, her head hit on a rock as she felt her body come in contact with the cold, wet forest floor. For a few seconds, she was disoriented and dizzy. Her head was pounding as she unsuccessfully tried to stand back up. Falling back down from the dizziness, she put her hands on each temple, as if it would help her come back to reality. She just could not get her head to stop spinning. Fearing the worse, she slowly opened her eyes. They were coming, fast. Her vision was blurry, but she knew it was them. They were screaming things she couldn't comprehend at the moment; the dogs were going crazy, there were lights everywhere, footsteps surrounding her … there was a bright, sudden flash of red, then her limbs started getting numb, her vision failed as well as her hearing. She finally passed out with those last words in mind: They have found me.

Dark. It was dark. And cold. Where was she? What happened? No … Oh no. They had found her.

In a normal state, her heart would be racing, but she felt as though it didn't even have the energy to do so. Pain shot through her head, reminding her how she had gotten caught. She was laying on something hard, yet somewhat soft. The room was cold, the air smelled … different. She knew for sure she wasn't outside. While regaining consciousness, she noticed her eyes were still shut. She tried to open them fast, but even her eyelids were heavy. She cracked open her eyes which were immediately attacked by the brightness of the room. The intense white color on the walls felt aggressive on her newly opened eyes.

The blur in her vision disappeared. She could start to make out the environment around her, but something stopped her; the sound of something sliding. A door? Yes, footsteps followed that sound. More than one person was coming in. Even if she wanted to run away, how could she? Even though now, her heart could start racing, it didn't give her the energy to fight, to run.

"There is no need to fight, dear. You are safe here." A soft, reassuring voice said.

Safe? How could she possibly be safe…

She turned her head towards the sound of the voice; a small, bald man in a wheelchair was looking at her. He was accompanied by a tall built man with brown hair and strange looking red glasses. Next to him was a sleek beautiful woman with red hair and piercing eyes softened by a genuine smile. From behind her came a dark-skinned white haired woman.

She wasn't totally back from her head injury yet, so she remained a bit confused. She was trying to figure out who they were, because she had seen them before…

"I've a feeling you are familiar with us. My name is Professor Charles Xavier, I am the principal of this school. Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. I assume you have heard of it?"

Yes, she had. She looked him in the eyes, while slowly sitting up, ignoring the shooting pain in her head. She could not believe that she was finally here, after months of travelling, running away, she was finally here, safe. It felt a 1000 pounds were lifted from her shoulders. She ended up sitting on the edge of the small hospital bed; her eyes left his gaze as she realized tears had formed in them. Looking down, the tears spilled and she breathed an immense sigh of relief. Smiling, she whispered a small "thank you", while more tears came. They had saved her from a horrible death. She did not even want to think about it.

"I don't want to intrude your privacy, but would you mind telling us your name?"

She looked up, smiled even more as they smiled back at her, and she said:

"Elena."

An hour went by as they explained to her what had happened: She had been close enough to the mansion for the professor to locate her with Cerebro. They immediately went after her, knowing she was in trouble. They found her as the men got to her. The red flash of light came from Scott, the brown-haired man, who had the power to throw lasers from his eyes, which explained the glasses. They knocked everyone out and brought her to the mansion. After making sure her head was alright and nothing was broken, they let her sleep a few hours to let her body rest.

The professor and Jean – the red-haired woman – then proceeded to show her where she would be staying at, and explained how everything worked. Since Elena was already 19 years old, she had already graduated so it was unnecessary for her to attend school. However they offered to give her a job as a teacher once she was comfortable and all settled in. She accepted, but agreed that she wanted to get settled in first.

She was now alone in her enormous room, admiring how beautiful it was. She had a queen bed, a large dresser, a walk-in closet, her own bathroom with a shower, and the best of all, a very wide window that had a wonderful view on the forest. Things could not get any better.

She heard footsteps in the hallway. She was so bubbly and happy, she decided she was not shy tonight and she was going to open to door to say hi to the person passing by, hoping to make a friend.

She practically ran to the door, opened it and stepped outside of her room, only to bump into something rather large and hard. She caught herself on the wall behind her, and she looked up.

A man stood in front of her, tall and very well built. He looked gruff, not shaved and very … feral-like. He looked absolutely…delicious. She couldn't stop staring at him.

"Could watch where y'er goin'." His voice was rough, intimidating.

"Y-yes, I'm sorry."

He started walking away, chuckling. Before he disappeared down the stairs, she yelled:

"I'm Elena by the way."

"Yeah, sure"

Well, this was going to be very interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

Elena was looking at the sunset when someone knocked on her door. Sitting in the window sill, she quickly turned her head towards the door, wondering who it could be.

"Come in!"

The door slowly opened and Jean appeared, with that same genuine smile on her face. She looked radiant, her fire red hair falling perfectly around her face. For a second, Elena envied her looks. She felt like she was some kind of regular looking girl. Her dark brown, straight hair reached all the way down to the middle of her back. She was rather tall and sleek; her wide hips in line with her shoulders gave her a perfect hourglass figure. Her chest was decent, a nice C cup. That is one of the only things guys were usually interested in. The other thing was her almond shaped hazel-colored eyes. They seemed rare around, and did not go unnoticed. All other features were considered normal and ordinary. Nothing stood out, like Jean's red hair, or Scott's glasses.

"Elena?"

"Yes?" she said, snapping back to reality.

"Would you like to come down and get a bite? We're all gathered downstairs, we thought it would be a great opportunity to meet us all!"

"Why, of course! Could you wait for me? I have no clue where to go."

"Sure, I'll be right out!"

Elena hurried and changed into a clean pair of jeans, as well as a clean hoodie. She was rather cold. It was an October evening, after all.

Jean and Elena made their way to the kitchen, talking about little things. Jean told her how she ended up in the mansion, explained her past and how she met Scott. She also told her they were planning a wedding in about a year from now. Well, that explained her radiance; what engaged woman would not be glowing?

They arrived to the kitchen, where people were sitting at the table and stools, chatting away. Some of them stopped and looked at Elena. Some smiled, some had a confused look on the faces. Looks like not everybody knew there was a new girl in the mansion.

Jean was the first to speak.

"Hi guys, as discussed with some of you earlier, we have a new soon-to-be teacher. Her name is Elena… Um …''

"White. Elena White," she cut in.

She looked around while Jean invited her to sit at the table. She accepted and followed her, taking a seat next to her. She noticed Scott who was sitting at Jean's other side. Next to herself was Storm, the dark-skinned woman she had met earlier, and the others, she had no sweet clue.

A handsome, blond haired and blue-eyed boy in front of her stretched his hand out.

"Hi there, I'm Bobby, or Ice Man."

Ice Man? She took his hand and shook it. The pretty girl next to him smiled at her.

"And I'm Rogue, or Marie if you prefer," she had pretty dark brown eyes, and she showed no skin whatsoever. She must be cold.

Soon, the rest of the crew introduced themselves. There was Kitty, Peter, Kurt (who had strange blue skin). Meanwhile, another blue-skinned man came in and introduced himself also. He was Hank, a Doctor and politician.

They began chatting away, all telling her their own stories, making her more comfortable with time. They ended up laughing all together at the funny stories they had to tell her.

"What about you Elena? Where do you come from? Tell us about you!" Bobby said.

That was the question she was hoping not to get. What could she tell them…

She opened her mouth as if to speak, but someone came in kitchen, catching her attention. She looked around and she saw him again. He was wearing joggings and a white no sleeved shirt. He looked out of breath and sweaty, like he just came back from an intense workout. It wasn't unpleasant to see, she admitted to herself.

"Hi Logan," Jean's sweet voice startled me.

"Hi," he answered in his rough voice.

"Have you met-"

"Yup. "

An awkward silence followed his short response.

"What's wrong with you?"

This time, she was the one who spoke. A man who didn't even have the manners to say hello and introduce himself to someone new, that was odd. And annoying.

"Don't start, kid."

"Kid? I'm no kid."

He threw a look at her, chuckled and left the room as if she had not said a thing.

Elena turned back around, feeling annoyed and confused.

"Don't worry, that's Logan alright," Scott said.

"Yeah …"

The rest of the evening went very well. They all ended up in the playroom for a pool game. Poor Elena sucked at that, but they had fun nonetheless. Around 11pm, she felt very tired so she left to go upstairs, thanking those who were left for the awesome evening. After wishing them goodnight, she headed upstairs, changed into a pair of pyjamas which consisted of short loose shorts and a tank top, and she threw herself on the bed, slipping under the covers. She was asleep in a minute and the last thing on her mind before drifting away was…

…him.


	3. Chapter 3

**I fixed the last chapter, had made quite a few mistakes! If any of you see mistakes in this one or any other chapter, please feel free to let me know! I'm quite the perfectionnist, but sometimes I can't catch them!**

**I own nothing but Elena!**

As her senses started to kick in, she could hear the melody the birds were singing, a cold autumn breeze was flowing in her room, bringing in the fresh forest air. Taking a deep breath in, she could feel the wellness of the air into her lungs, she felt the oxygen go in her system, making her feel calmed and relaxed. Laying on her stomach and sprawled over the entire bed, she slowly opened her eyes, blew a puff of breath to get a piece of hair out of the way and stared right into the sunrise. The colors, the brightness, the nature, it was so breathtaking. It reminded her of the old days, when she went outside in the morning with her mother to watch the sunrise. She was four at the time. She would sit on her mother who would always sing an angelic melody, which made her fall asleep most of the time. She would then wake up in her small bed, facing the window where she could still see the sun. Oh, what a good time that was …

_Elena? Sorry, is it too early? I'd like to speak to you in the kitchen, if possible at the moment._

It took her a moment to realize it was the professor who was communicating with her telepathically.

"That's not a problem professor. Let me just get dressed and ready, I'll meet you down in the kitchen in about fifteen minutes."

_That sounds perfect. See you then._

She let out a small sigh. She would have loved to sleep in but meh, what the heck. Her day would be longer, more time to do whatever was needed.

She sat up, rubbed the sleepiness off of her eyes and got up to go wash her face. She freshened up with a splash of cold water on her face, which felt so good on the skin. She proceeded with brushing her teeth, getting dressed and looked at herself in the bathroom mirror to make sure she looked presentable.

Her soft long hair was wavy, probably due to the way she slept. It looked good, natural. Her face looked fresh, she was not particularly glowing like Jean, but she did look much better than she had a week ago. She had a bit of paleness to her skin but she could just blame that on the lack of sun. She was wearing a very simple grey, wide strap tank top with a pair of navy blue joggings.

For a Sunday morning, she looked highly presentable.

She headed downstairs to meet the professor in the kitchen. The kitchen? That was strange. Why not the office? Well, at least she might be able to grab something for breakfast, she was starving. Her stomach approved very quickly.

One she got to the kitchen, she heard more than one person speaking. Coming in, she noticed all the teachers were seated at the table, eating breakfast. Oh, breakfast; there was some kind of huge buffet on the table. She couldn't take her eyes off of the bacon. She hadn't even noticed everyone staring at her.

"Hungry much, sweety?" said Jean while laughing.

"You have no idea."

She sat down in between Scott and Storm, took a plate and started filling it up with bacon, eggs, potatoes, apple and orange slices, watermelon, and a huge glass of orange juice. While she was taking all that food, some were silently laughing, smirking and watching her in amusement.

She sat back, looked at her full plate and sighed in contentment. Immediately, she noticed the silence. She looked around the table.

"Oh you guys, I bet if you spent years eating leftovers and donations, you would appreciate a plate like this," she said, smirking.

Everyone had a good laugh, and they were all back to talking. The professor was speaking with Storm. Even though she knew he was probably waiting for some of her attention, she couldn't help but feed her starved stomach. She stayed polite, but she ate fast. Once three quarters of her plate was gone, she took a sip of her juice and finally looked at the professor, who acknowledged her attention.

"So Storm, why don't you explain to Elena what the plans are? Now that her appetite is almost fulfilled. "

Everyone had a good laugh, including herself. For the next ten minutes, Storm explained to Elena that she would only start teaching at the start of the second semester, in January. However, it would be highly preferred if she could begin her Danger Sessions as soon as possible. As Elena showed a confused look at that, Storm explained they were special classes put in place for the students to practice their powers and abilities and put them in action. Well that sounded interesting. She didn't even know the extent of hers.

The professor then started talking.

"Of course, the first session's focus will be mainly on figuring out what your powers are exactly. I suggest, if that isn't too much, that you start tomorrow. IT would be very important that you learn to master your powers soon. You are going to teach, after all. You need to be some kind of example to the students."

"That's quite alright, Professor. What time?"

"You may begin at 10 o'clock in the morning tomo-"

"In an hour. You begin in an hour," the famous gruff voice came from the doorway.

Everyone looked his way. Oh, no that could not be real.

"I forgot to mention, Elena that Logan is going to be your teacher. And it seems like you will begin in an hour."

She threw a look of desperation and frustration his way. He smirked and she knew he found it funny. Well she sure didn't.

"And don't you dare be late.''

He left, not even waiting for an answer. Still looking at the doorway, she muttered to herself "whatever" and turned back around, ready to fill back up her plate. Before she could even get to the bacon, Scott stopped her hand.

"If I were you, I would stop eating right now. I doubt he's gonna give it to you easy, you might not keep it all down."

How encouraging.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Sorry for the wait. I'm sorry also for this chapter.. I don't feel like it's … good. You guys let me know, I think there is lots missing. I might update it later. Let me know!  
Thanks to all who favorited\followed\reviewed :)**

Elena still finished her meal. She decided it would be best to at least have that in her system to give her the most energy she could get. If she had to throw it up, well, she just would. Might get her out sooner. Meh.

Her mind wandered on her way to the Danger Room. No one really knew what happened to her when her powers manifested; she included. She remembered before, when she was running to save herself, the feeling that came upon her. What if she couldn't bring it on? She usually needed to be in a dangerous situation in order to feel her instincts working, and even then she would supress them by fear.

"Where you goin'?"

Woops.

She slowly swirled around and looked at him. He was wearing a wife beater and loose grey sweatpants. The white top was sticking to his chest, outlining his pectorals and abs. The view wasn't painful to look at.

Realizing she was staring, she quickly came back to reality and answered him.

"Simply trying to save myself some trouble, but it looks like I couldn't get away with it."

"Hmph"

Here we go.

She followed him in the Danger Room. It was immense; in the control room she could watch the entire room, amazed by the size and wondering: how could it be … dangerous?

She noticed Logan getting out and followed him once again. Once they reached the middle of the room, he stopped, turned around and said:

"Show me what you're capable of."

"…Pardon me?"

"What are your powers, what can you do?"

"… I don't know."

"Helpful."

He approached her and in a flash, he punched her in the stomach – hard. She loudly moaned in pain as her breath was cut short. Holding her stomach, she fell to her knees, now quietly moaning in pain.

"Wow. Those are the worst reflexes I have ever seen. You have none."

He helped her up and waited as she was starting to breathe again. She did not like this. Not one bit.

"You're gonna have to figure out how to bring your feral instincts back. Have you ever felt it?"

"Yes, everytime I was in danger … I felt it just before passing out when they were chasing me …" she responded as she was straightening up.

"Fair enough. Stay here"

He started walking back to the control room. Not sure of what to do, she just watched as he left her there. What was he about to do? She didn't have a good feeling about this.

Suddenly, everything changed. The room was gone, it was now a very dark forest. She had heard slightly about the Danger Room, but she could have never imagined how real it all could look.

Suddenly, she heard them. They were yelling, running towards her. Then she heard the dogs barking, saw the lights flashing. The wind picked up, sending her scent towards the dogs. And it all came back … She felt unsecure, nervous, scared. She started shaking when she realized she had to start running; NOW.

Everything was so real, she lost herself in it. She was in a state of panic and couldn't think straight; it was as if she was there back again. Was it all a dream? Had good people really found her?

She spun around and started running. The wind was whispering in her ears, blowing against her. She clearly heard their footsteps getting closer by the second.

After a few seconds of running, it came; the rushing feeling making her senses go crazy, sending shivers and waves of heat throughout her entire body. Her fingers tingled and for the first time, she didn't try to stop them. However, the tingles went away and pain hit her, making her stop abrupt in her run. Unfortunately, stopping so fast and unexpectedly made her fall to the ground. Looking at her hands, she didn't know what to feel. Horror? Disgust? Happiness? Her nails grew longer, the edges thinned out into a pointy claw and they hardened. Once the pain subsided, she noticed they had caught up to her. Forgetting her claws, she stared in true horror at the men who had stopped about thirty feet from her. Three of them came towards her fast and went to pick her up.

"No, no, no! Stop, don't touch me! I said don't touch me!"

Two tall men picked her up by each of her arms. She was fighting them off but they were much stronger than her. At one point, tears came from her eyes as she was screaming and kicking. Nothing was working.

She started trembling, desperately trying to get away but nothing was getting them off. She felt helpless and began feeling overwhelmed by the fear she felt. They had caught her; she would end up in a basement again, being tested on.

Images of her past came flowing through; laying on a steel table, looking around, dizzy. Men in white uniforms looking down at her, smiling. Suddenly she felt it; the sharp pain in her arms. They had started cutting. She screamed as loud as she could; she begged them to stop, to let her go, to kill her … but nothing made them stop. She kept screaming in pain, writhing on the table as they cut her open everywhere. They were five.

In a flash, everything was gone. The men, the table, the pain, the forest, the dogs, the cold wind … It was all replaced by a large room where she was lying on her side, curled up, crying. Her arms covered her head while she kept on shaking and screaming.

"Elena! Wake up, c'mon, it's over!"

Logan's voice was not enough to bring her back. The adrenaline rush, fear and panic just didn't leave her.

A few moments later, after Logan's many attempts, she felt other presences in the room. One was powerful, yet calming and reassuring. She slowly stopped shaking, her screaming had reduced to just crying. She kept her face hidden, still afraid. However, she knew it was the professor who was calming her mind.

"Elena, I need you to listen to my voice; you are safe now. Let go of the images, let go of the fear, you are back with us."

Elena put her arms down revealing her face. They all had a look of surprise; what she couldn't see was that her hazel eyes had now become a very pale blue, and her canine had grown to be fangs. Even though the change of appearance surprised them slightly, they still felt horrible about the fear they could see in her eyes. They had never seen anything so intense.

"Logan, you and Scott are going to take her back to her room. Jean, follow please, and check up on her. Make sure she is settled for some rest."

"Yes professor" said Jean.

They hurried and did as the professor asked.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi everyone!**  
**The chapter is small, but I feel bad about the time I am taking so no worries I will update soon enough. I hope. Most likely, haha. Alright, here goes nothing! Enjoy!**

Once Elena had calmed down enough, Logan and Scott helped her up; each holding one arm, they walked a very weak and fragile woman back to her room. Jean and the Professor were following, talking to each other in low voices. Elena couldn't comprehend anything being said to her or to anyone else, for that matter. For one, she was in shock; her body hadn't been under such stress in quite a while. All she could think about was the basement, the men in uniforms, the fear, the pain … It had been so painful…

"Elena, are you okay?" a soothing voice said. Jean had spoken to her, but she could barely hear her. It sounded so far away.

"Elena? …" she repeated. Elena showed no sign, no reaction. She was lost and overwhelmed. Unconsciously, she had started panting and shaking. Her breathing kept getting heavier and faster, tears rolled down her face, her eyes full of terror and confusion. She was in a full state of panic.

The Professor tried to calm her down, but it seemed her mind was unattainable. They quickly realized her feral side was taking over when her eyes became even more intense, her canines came back out and much to their surprise, three long adamantium claws came out from between her knuckles. As strange as it may be, it was even a surprise to her. She yelled in pain while everyone watched, stunned to see this. They were clueless as to what to do; Jean kept trying to soothe her down, the Professor was searching a way to get to her mind, Scott stayed on his guards in case she would attack, and Logan … He felt it. He felt her distress. As a feral, he could relate to her in a way no one could. He knew what it felt like to feel imprisoned and helpless.

Elena had both of her hands on each side of her head; the claws wouldn't retract and it made her freak out. To add to it all, her arms felt like they were on fire, her head was pounding, her breathing wouldn't slow down and neither did her heart. She didn't understand; she was completely lost in time.

Logan stepped closer, moved her hands away from her face and replaced them with his own. He held her head still while he approached her a little more, until his face was just a few inches from hers.

"Elena, look at me" he said. Despite the unusual tone he used, she did not respond.

"Elena! Look at me!"

Suddenly she directed her eyes right into his. They stared in each other's eyes for a moment. Everyone around was quiet; all that could be heard was her laboured breathing.

When Logan spoke again, his voice was the smoothest it had ever been. He was speaking slow, making sure she heard everything.

"I know how you feel, I've been there, but you need to listen to me; you are alright. Elena you are safe. Now I want you to breathe slowly, keep looking at me and just breathe."

Elena kept staring in his eyes, shakily starting to breathe in slowly and deeply. She felt his presence was strong, stronger than it had ever been before and he seemed so sincere.

"That's it, you're doing great Elena. Do you feel it? The beast inside? Tame it down, don't let it take over Elena." His voice was calm but firm.

As she was calming down, his eyes never left hers; he wanted her to know he was there; he wanted her to feel him here with her.

"That's good, keep going, you're doing great. Now let go of the tension. Relax every muscle in your body and let go."

As she relaxed her muscles, her tender arms softened, making her newly-discovered claws retract. She hissed in surprise at the sharp pain, clenching her eyes.

"Don't think about it, stay with me; stay relaxed Elena."

When she reopened her eyes, they returned to their normal hazel color. Her fangs retracted and her body visibly relaxed as she took one more deep breath in. She looked at Logan and he could see the pain, sorrow, and overwhelming feeling in her eyes. His heart clenched; for the first time in his life, he cared for someone so deeply that it hurt him to see her in such pain.

She opened her mouth, drew a small breath in and said:

"Help me…"

Then everything went black; she started falling when Logan quickly caught her before she hit the floor.

He was on his knees, holding her motionless body. He looked at her, frowning, worried.

"Logan … That was …"

"Jean, don't."

Everyone was astonished at this display of tenderness coming from a man whose heart had seemed absent since the day they had met him.

"I'll take her to her room but she needs peace and quiet right now. Too much energy around her might trigger it back."

He picked her up in his arms bridal-style, and started walking to her room.

"Scott, Jean, let's go; Logan knows what he's doing." The Professor quietly said.

They turned around and walked back quietly to wherever they had to go.


	6. Chapter 6

Jean and the Professor decided to go to the main office to talk about what had just happened. They kept silent the whole way there.

Once they entered the office, as soon as Jean closed the door, the Professor turned to her.

"This young mutant had obviously been through a lot of pain in her past. I feel horrible; having known what I know now, she wouldn't have entered the Danger Room yet."

"You didn't know Professor. She hasn't spoken to any of us about her past. But … Have you seen what happened? The drastic change in Logan? I mean I could even feel it. It was … strange."

"I have a feeling, since they are both feral, that they have made some sort of animalistic connection. Especially after seeing she has Adamantium claws as well. Maybe she knows about his past. One thing's for sure; she needs rest and peace right now. At least until we figure out what's happened to her."

Logan was back in his room, lying on his bed with his arms crossed behind his head. The man was beyond confused. He had just watched Elena become an animal and uncontrollably force Adamantium claws out of her knuckles. He had seen her lose herself into the beast inside, trying to shut down her human emotions. But most of all, he had just witnessed a very overwhelmingly hurt young woman whose past held more than he could imagine. A young woman who did not even know who her mutant self was. A young woman who did not know how to control her abilities. Ever since Logan had seen the pain and sorrow in her eyes, he couldn't stop himself from thinking about her. He had to help her. He felt the urge to teach her how to control her emotions. He just wanted to be there for her and that felt odd to him. He was the man who never cared, the man who lived independently. What was wrong with him? How could he change so suddenly? He wasn't supposed to be some kind of puppy, caring for a kid's emotions. He was the strong, threatening animal waiting for a prey to pounce on.

Things felt different now. Too different.

When Elena woke up, she felt different. She felt like she had been sleeping for a long time. She opened her eyes and saw that it was dark outside. Confused, she looked at the clock; 11:34.

Even more confused now, she tried to remember why she had gone to bed so early. The last thing she remembered was Danger Session with Logan. She was fighting off something and then…nothing. She remembered nothing. However, a strange feeling occurred. For some reason, she felt scared. Scared of nothing, yet everything. She looked out the window again and felt creeped out. A little bit of panic flew through her and she immediately closed the blinds, breathing a little faster than she had been. She put both hands on each side of her head, turning around to go to the bathroom.

"C'mon Elena, get yourself together …" she said to herself.

Once in the bathroom, she put both hands on the counter, head down. She breathed in deeply and slowly to calm her frantic heart. After a minute, once she was back to normal, she lifted her head to look at herself in the mirror facing her. Her eyes were deep and she had circles under them. She seemed pale.

Shaking her head, she turned towards the shower to get the water going. She turned the shower head on, setting the water to her desired temperature. Once undressed, she stepped in and let the water run through her hair, on her body. She put her face under the jet and let it relax her a little. She loved the feeling of the hot water running down on her.

With her eyes shut, she began thinking. She thought of the last time she felt this way. The last time her panic invaded her so easily. Then it all came back.

The steps, the dogs … The lights …

Now she knew why she was in bed. She slightly remembered the scene Logan had put her in in the Danger Room. Her worst nightmare had caught back to her. She began to feel the panic come back when suddenly, she heard someone knock at the door. She didn't even know if she could answer it. She felt so scared.

Getting out of the shower, she put a towel around her and she walked towards the door. Carefully, she unlocked it, telling herself she was safe in here. No one would hurt her. When she turned the doorknob she closed her eyes. Letting the door open, she slowly stepped back and looked at the person standing at her door step.

Logan.

As soon as she saw her face, she felt it; the connection, the link between them. She felt nervous but she also felt …safe. She felt safe. For the first time in her short life, she felt safe.

So much was passing through her mind, and all emotions were seen in her eyes. Logan detected and felt every part of it. She was nervous, anxious, scared. But suddenly she felt safe. And that's what he wanted.

As soon as he felt her safe, he entered her room, shut the door behind him, and looked at her. His eyes were different than before. As opposed to their usual hard-felt, strong and threatening confidence, they were now soft, calm and understanding.

Elena hadn't even stepped back which made them a few inches from each other after he had come in. She didn't want to move; the closer she was to him, the safer she felt.

Looking at him, she felt comfortable, in peace, and she even felt a little bit of lust for him. She knew that was her animal within.

Logan put a hand on her arm, softly caressing it with the tips of his fingers. She instantly closed her eyes, feeling the shivers on her body. His touch felt warm and inviting.

"Logan … There's something ab-"

"-I know, I feel it too. A feral connection."

In that moment they stared into each other's eyes and they knew then:

They were mates.


End file.
